Gregory sat down on the first step next to her, trying not to sound amused. "You're just going to stay here"
"Until my head stops spinning, yes, I am." Closing her eyes, she lowered her head to her knees. Undoing his tie as he thought about her decision, Gregory smiled at her. "Is there something you would like me to do"
Olivia tightened her grip on her legs. "Tell your son to stop doing whatever it is he's doing. If i throw up, it's his lunch too." Letting his tie hang loosely around his neck, he moved until he was sitting next to her on the landing. She resisted for an instant as he put his arm around her shoulders. Then she gave in, letting her head rest on his chest. "Thank you for coming home with me"
Gregory ran a gentle finger over her cheek slowly. "Did you really think I was going to stay at the office and let Casey drop you off"
"You used too." The thought slipped out before she could censor it, and Olivia's eyes snapped open in guilt, Taking the hurt and putting it away, he realized her behavior made more sense with that in mind. "Is that why you didn't want to say anything? You thought I'd just send you home by yourself"
Moving her head slightly against his chest was as close as she could get to nodding without inviting her head to spin faster. "You had work to do"
Gregory laughed, surprising himself. "I always have work." She was still processing his last statement when he was suddenly gone from her side. He was standing above her, suggesting she try her feet again as he set his hands under her arms and lifted. "We should get you to bed"
Olivia remained standing because she was surrounded on all sides, between the wall, Gregory and both of his arms. "I'm not arguing with you. I'm trying to tell you I can't do it"
"One step at a time." He suggested gently. "It's not that far Liv"
The staircase went on forever when she looked up at it. "It looks like hell"
Gregory coaxed her up the next step, both arms around her. "I'm not sure if I remember a never ending staircase in Dante's Inferno"
"Dante didn't have your baby." She snapped back bitterly. "That book would have been drastically different if he was a woman." He got her up a second step. "I suppose that's true." Gregory caught her looking hopelessly at the top of the staircase and came up with another thought. "Why don't you close your eyes"
"I'm not closing my eyes! Are you insane?" Olivia immediately retorted. "This is hard enough with my eyes open." "You're thinking about it too much." Gregory replied with his courtroom calm. "You've gone up these stairs a thousand times. Your feet know how." He counted the steps between them and the second floor, thirteen was one of his lucky numbers. "Olivia- trust me"
She made a disbelieving noise in the back of her throat. "Trust me." He repeated again. "Close your eyes, I won't let anything happen to you." "Okay." She agreed without being at all convinced. Twelve, eleven, ten steps to the second floor. "Rose said we got a letter from Sean today. You make it up to bed, and I'll read it to you"
Seven steps left. Olivia paused, struggling to swallow her nausea. "Now you're bribing me?" Gregory chuckled dryly. "It seems to be working." Four steps. "He wrote back sooner then I expected"
"He's always been a good boy." She reminded him quietly. "Always such a good boy." Gregory kissed her temple, rubbing the hair he moved aside between his fingers. "Open your eyes sweetheart." The doorway to their bedroom was simply beautiful. Olivia let out the breath from her chest, starting to go limp against him. "Hey-" "Dizzy." She complained weakly, bringing her hand to her face as her view of the desperate concern on his face faded to gray for a moment. "Just got worse for a moment"
"Olivia we're going to walk over to the bed and sit down. Then I'll go downstairs and get Sean's letter." Gregory's voice was something she could focus on. A shaft of light in the darkness around her. "You'll be fine." She held his eyes in hers as long as she could, but her body wasn't responding. Leaning against the doorframe helped somewhat, but it was just delaying the inevitable. Her body was ready to collapse. He finally gave up and lifted her into his arms. Steadying the weight of her body, he felt her cold hand on the back of his neck as she held on.
"I'm sorry"
"Not your fault." Gregory assured her as he slowly crossed the bedroom. "Should have brought you home sooner." As he lowered her onto the bed, she tried again to apologize. "I don't know where this came from." Olivia admitted with a trace of fear in her voice. "I haven't been this bad before." He reached over her, taking the pillows from his side of the bed and tucking them being her back. "You were a little younger the last time we had a baby"
Patting his shoulder, she was careful not to move her head. "I guess that's it, isn't it? I'm just not as young as I used to be." "I'm going to go get Sean's letter, all right?" Gregory felt the cold knot of concern in his stomach ease a little now that she was safe in bed. "Don't go anywhere"
"Little chance of that I think." Her sardonic smile made him chuckle as he stood up. "I'll be right back sweetheart." Gregory left the bedroom door open, just in case. Belle greeted him with a swish of her tail as she bounced in with Ethan from their walk. Ethan gave him a wave as he disconnected the leash from her collar. "You're home early"
The dog insisted on sniffing his hands and his expensive gray suit. Gregory gave in and put out his left hand for her nose. "Olivia's not feeling well." "Oh, sorry to hear that." He put the leash away in the hall closet, and Ethan's brow furrowed sympathetically as he turned back to him. "Does she need anything"
Gregory shook his head as he tucked his hands into his pockets. "Just some rest and I think she'll be fine, but I'd like to check in with your father. Do you know if he's at his apartment"
Ethan looked at his watch, his father was usually home from the hospital by now. Nodding as he pulled a rope chew toy from under the sofa for Belle, he dangling it in front of her nose as she jumped for it. "Probably. I think Bette has a cell if you can't reach him there. Do you need the number?" "No, no I've got it. Thanks." Gregory ducked into his study, picking up the mail from his desk. Dropping the official letters back to his desk he kept the hand-addressed envelope from Manchester in his hand. There was one more, a card without a return address or a stamp. It must have been hand-delivered that morning. He didn't recognize the hand that had written "Gregory and Olivia Richards" was neat, but distinctly masculine. It felt stiff and heavy, like an invitation and he reached for his letter opener curiously. He slit open Sean's letter first and put it in his pants pocket. Taking off his suit jacket and dropping it over the back of his chair, he tore through the envelope of the mysterious invitation. It would only take a moment to read it, then he could get back upstairs to Olivia.
The card was expensive parchment embossed with gold, and Gregory pulled it and turned it right to read it. Instead of an invitation, it only had a single word. "Congratulations." Beneath it was a simple design of a child's toy blocks. The significance of that hit him in the gut like a ton of bricks and he flipped it open. Something that had been folded and stuck inside fell to his desk like a dead leaf. The inside of the card was blank except for four little words written in the same neat masculine hand.
"I know your secret"
His hand crumpled the card the bottom of the card. Destroying the stiff paper before he forced himself to drop it. Gregory's steely logic told him it was evidence and he had to keep it intact. Lashing out at the silver framed photograph on his desk, he vented his rage. Striking it hard enough to send it flying into the wall, the glass shattered and the picture of Caitlin and Olivia fluttered out into the wreckage. Remembering the insert in the card, Gregory looked down at his desk. What had been in the card? It was glossy paper and folded in on itself. It was a brochure, one of the many medical pamphlets he recognized from lining the wall in hospital. That struck him as odd through the burning rage in his heart. Listening to his blood pound in his ears, Olivia's face flashed in front of his vision as he opened the brochure. He only needed to glance it for a moment before he was overcome by his fury. Gregory paused for a few beats of his raging heartbeat. Then he lowered his arm to the desk and shoved everything on it over the edge to the floor. The phone smashed on the floor, plastic breaking apart. Ethan came in through the door, Belle sneaking around his legs to check on the mess. Gregory couldn't speak to him. He couldn't even look at the young man. Ethan took in the the mess on the floor as he picked up the crumpled card and the brochure. He started to speak, but shut his mouth. He couldn't think of anything to say. He could hear Gregory's forced breathing through his nose.
Reading over everything again, the younger man found his voice. "I'm going to call detective Torres and my dad from the living room." Leaving Gregory standing over the broken mess in of his study, Ethan went for the phone. The medical brochure that made both of their blood run cold was still in his hand as he picked up it up to dial. Ethan looked it over again as he rang through to the police department. He couldn't imagine what he'd do in Gregory's position. The pamphlet was titled 'Dealing with Miscarriage.' Just looking at it made him sick to his stomach.
Gregory's entire world had shut down to those four maddening words. "I know your secret." The brochure about miscarriage was just the acid in the wound. Of course the bastard would go straight for their baby. Cole knew enough to target Olivia to get to him, Their baby was the next step. Giving up wasn't an option. He didn't give up. It wasn't even about the jewels. He would cram the jewels down Cole's throat and he could die choking on them.
That slowed his heart slightly. Picturing Cole begging for his life like the coward he was gave his rage an outlet. He shut the door to his study. The mess could wait. "Gregory what was that noise?" The sound of Olivia's voice from upstairs brought back the chill grasp of fear. Terror he couldn't control as easily as his anger. Ethan was on the phone, speaking quickly with the police department. When Gregory looked at him, he covered the mouthpiece to explain. "Detective Torres will come alone, he'll be discreet"
Desperate for an explanation, Gregory's eyes fell on Belle as she returned to her chew rope. "Nothing," He called up quickly. "Just Belle, knocking a few things off my desk with that tail of hers." The dog looked up when she heard her name, but went back to her playing contentedly when he didn't say anything else. "I'll be up in a moment"
Ethan hung up the phone and started to dial his father. "I've got this. Dad will talk to the police. You go." Pausing at the foot of the stairs, Gregory made himself smile as he started up. "That dog of yours thinks she's less then half as big as she is. Wants to run around the house and play like she's Spike's size." Standing in the doorway of their bedroom, Olivia looked as stable as a palm tree in a typhoon. His fear jumped back into his throat, and his smile started to become painful. "I told you not to get up." He grabbed her arms to escort her back to bed.
"I'm all right Gregory. I don't need you to hover around me, I can stand up by myself." Her stubborn desire to convince him she was all right would have been endearing if it wasn't so frightening. She pulled away from his hands, more frustrated with her own body's failure to listen to her mind than with him, but helpless to do anything about herself.
Gregory withdrew his hands, dropping them to his sides and biting back his sigh of exasperation. Taking care of her was far easier when she would just let him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out Sean's folded letter and handed it to her as he sat down on the loveseat on the end of the bed. "I'll read it when you're done"
Her legs weren't going to let her head gracefully back to him, and she stopped where she was, clinging to the back of her chair at the vanity for support. Olivia waited, wondering if she was going to be able to walk to his side. Letting go of the chair turned out to be more foolish than anything else and she would have lost her balance entirely if he hadn't jumped up and grabbed her. Gregory wrapped his arms around her waist. "You're right." He reminded her sarcastically as he led her back to the bed. "You don't need me." "I don't want to need you." She snapped at him as he sat her down and reached for her shoes. "I hate feeling like this." Setting her shoes aside, Gregory rested his hands on her knees. "It'll get better Liv"
"When's it going to get better Gregory?" The bitter edge was back in her voice, and he realized she had reached her limit. "Tomorrow? Next week? A month from now"
He had to shrug apologetically as he rubbed her thighs. "I don't know when"
Olivia sat back in bed, fighting a losing battle with her hormones. "Oh then it's easy for you to say it'll just get better isn't it?" Gregory buried a smile behind his hand as he stood up to retrieve Sean's letter from the floor. She didn't realize how attractive her stubborn streak could be, how much her passionate side intrigued him. "I'm sorry Liv." She gave him a dirty look, envying the way he could just bend down and pick up Sean's letter without having the world spin around him. "That's all you can say isn't it? You're sorry, and you're sure I'll feel better eventually. You really do know how to be helpful don't you darling"
There were a hundred things he wanted to say. Part of him just wanted to take her away. Pack up and drive, fly or sail her as far away from Sunset Beach as he could. Instead, he buried his fear away with his anger and waved Sean's letter at her gently. "So I won't talk anymore. I'll just tell you read you what Sean's doing"
He pulled off his shoes and settled next to her on the bed. "You do still want to hear Sean's letter don't you"
"Yes darling." Olivia slipped her hand under his arm as a peace offering.
Gregory lifted up the letter and cleared his throat. "Dear dad. Thanks for writing me. Somehow mom's letters always seem to show up just when I'm starting to get homesick. It was a nice surprise to have you write dad. Lillian asked me to remind you that she'll take you on whenever you have an international case in England. The manor is beautiful, just like Ethan said it was. Though it is taking me a little time to get used to living in a house with gargoyles and secret passageways"
Olivia smiled slightly, thinking of the gargoyles that had terrified her as a child on the Baxter Manorhouse. Gregory slipped his free hand around her shoulders and kept reading. "I'm glad mom's feeling better. I know you said not to worry about her, but it's hard to be so far away from everything at home and not worry"
She sat up, pulling away from his hand in surprise. "You lied to Sean." "Of course I did." Gregory set the letter down and raised an eyebrow at her. "What did you expect me to tell him?" He paused, and pretended to be dictating a letter. "Dear Sean, your mother and I went home from work early today because she wasn't feeling well. She insists she's fine, but nearly didn't make it up the stairs when we got home. But, don't worry, She's just pregnant"
"Gregory-" She reprimanded him firmly, but he continued to drive his point home. "Sorry we didn't tell you, but we wanted to keep it a secret. Forgive us for being paranoid, but there's a man trying to kill her!" He waved a hand wildly at the window, as if Cole was right outside it.
Olivia grabbed his hand. "Stop"
"A man you seemed to have forgotten entirely about-" He reminded, losing a bit of ground in the death grip he had on his fear. "-As you keep insisting you don't need me to protect you"
"I don't need you hovering around me like I'm some fragile artifact." Olivia pointed out angrily. "And I certainly don't need you patronizing me"
Any other day, he would have had a better reply, but even Gregory could not force his fear to disappate. Unexpressed, it found other ways out of his heart. "I wouldn't have to patronize you if you took better care of yourself"
His bitter accusation cut at her heart. "This isn't my fault!" Olivia cried miserably as she threw her hands up in defense. "I didn't ask to be sick, and believe me, as much of an inconvenience as it is for you to have to deal with me while I'm sick. It's far worse to be the one who can't walk across the room by herself"
"I didn't say you were an inconvenience." Beginning to realize how unreasonable he was being, Gregory tried to calm the situation down. "You don't have too." Olivia was too far gone to even listen to him anymore. She was tired, her head was foggy and her entire body hurt as if she had been running a marathon. Instead of seeing the honest apology in his eyes, she saw only accusation. "You had to leave work early and sit up here with me because you''re too damn overprotective to just leave me alone. Taking care of me is a waste of time that you could spend working on the hospital project"
"And if that wasn't bad enough, you have the gall to look at me as if it's all my fault." She put her hand over her heart, tears starting to form in her eyes. "There must be something I'm doing wrong because God only knows that pregnant women don't get sick on their own. If only I took better care of myself you could still be at work where you're happy"
Olivia's angry tears burst out of her eyes, but she kept going as they ran down her face. "But what you don't seem to understand is that I'm doing everything right. I gave up coffee. I get enough sleep. I eat what Roger tells me to and take my dammed prenatal vitamins-" "But none of it does a damn thing, I'm still tired when I get up in the morning and exhausted when I go to bed, I get nauseous in the afternoon, in the morning, and wake up in the middle of the night and feel like I'm going to throw up. My head hurts constantly and I hate it! I hate thinking about dinner and knowing I'll never be able to eat it. I hate sitting in the bathroom and wondering if it would be easier just to make myself throw up so the nausea goes away"
Taking a trembling breath, Olivia gulped back a sob and looked away from his face. "And then I think about how much this baby means to you- to us- and I hate myself for wishing I wasn't pregnant." Gregory took the hands that were wiping tears frantically from her face and held them close in his lap. "I think about everything that's happened and then I think about what could happen and oh god, then, I feel so awful for being anything but grateful for this baby." Olivia twitched her hands in his grip and looked every in the room but at his face. She just couldn't see the disappointment that she knew would be there. Dropping her chin to her chest, she stopped caring about how hard she was crying. "What kind of woman tries to wish her child away just because she gets a little sick"
Gregory held both of her shaking hands with one of his, and reached out with the other to clean tears from her cheeks. He followed his gentle touch with a kiss on each cheekbone, just below her eyes. Taking advantage of the pause in her torrent of emotion, he answered her rhetorical question. "The strongest, bravest, most beautiful woman I've ever known. Whom I love, very much." Olivia pulled her hands back to stem a new flood of tears. It was the way he could look into her soul and make her believe him without question that made it so hard to stare back into Gregory's brown eyes. "Oh, darling, you're- you're really not helping." Leaning towards him, she nearly collapsed into his arms when he pulled her towards him. "I wanted to change before dinner anyway." He pointed out nonchalantly as she sobbed into his shirt. Petting her head, Gregory could feel her try to laugh through her tears. He smiled gently, knowing she'd calm eventually. "I've been told some women like it when you tell them you love them. In fact, most husbands try to avoid creating bursts of tears by telling their wives how much they love them"
Rubbing her back with one hand, he wondered aloud, "Liv, do you ever think we seem to have it backwards?" "I'm sorry darling." Olivia replied as she slowly began to catch her breath. " I think it's just me that's backwards"
"No, don't apologize." Gregory begged softly, finding her hand and bringing it to his lips. "The rest of the world must have it wrong"
Lifting her head to his shoulder, Olivia wondered when the sun had started to go down as she tried to breathe normally. "The whole rest of the world?" She managed to ask as he continued to slowly rub her shoulder. "The whole rest of the world." Repeating it made her smile, and Gregory picked up Sean's forgotten letter.
"Should I finish"
"Finish what?" "Sean's letter. Remember Sean's letter?" Gregory scrolled down for the place she had interrupted him. "Ah yes, 'it's hard to be so far from everything at home and not worry. In fact, if you and mom weren't getting along so well, I don't think I could have left at all. And then I would have missed all of this"
"...I'll see you at Christmas. Lillian says we get to wander out in the woods, find a tree and cut it down ourselves. I've never done that before and I look forward to the experience. Give my love to mom and Caitlin, your son, Sean. P.S. How are you getting along with Belle"
Gregory looked over the side of the bed and the St. Bernard flopped lazily on his bedroom floor. "How do you think we're getting along?" She opened an eye and closed it again with a thud of her tail. "I think I can agree to that." He reached for the nightstand and took the pad of paper and pen inside it. "Should we write him back together darling"
Olivia's head was heavy on his shoulder, and as he craned his neck to look at her, Gregory realized she was asleep. Somewhere amid Sean's thoughtfully detailed descriptions of his campus and new classes, she had drifted off. Hoping she'd wake up feeling a bit more herself, he decided to let her sleep. "All right Belle, looks like we're going to have to write Sean instead." Another thud of tail against the floor.
"I agree. I think he'll like that." Gregory wrote 'dear Sean' across the top of the page and looked over to the window and the encroaching darkness. He wondered what Roger and Ricardo had discovered about Cole's latest threat, but it seemed cruel to risk waking Olivia after the afternoon she'd had. Instead, he turned his thoughts to happier things.
"On behalf of your mother, I send both our love and remind you again how proud we are of you. I suppose the leaves are starting to change on campus by now. Your mother has always been fond of fall in England. Sometimes I think she still misses the leaves. Palm trees just don't have the same romance to them"
"Yes, the credit cards and identification arrived in the mail today, just like you said it would." Cole looked over at the large open envelope on his bed. An entire new identity waited for him there. He just had one last thing to do as Cole St. John.
"Good. Remember to use the accent, Olivia's heard your voice, she might recognize you if you don't sound different enough"
Cole slipped into his faux-French accent, testing it out. "And you're sure dying my hair and wearing the glasses will be enough to keep her from recognizing my face"
The voice on the other end laughed confidently. "Olivia may be beautiful, but she's hardly the most brilliant woman in town. She only got a look at you when she was delirious. I wouldn't worry about her. Gregory would be a problem, but he should be so distracted by her pregnancy-" The voice conveyed his deep distaste for the thought of Olivia being contaminated with Gregory's child. "That he pays you little mind. He will of course hate you, but cultivate that. If he hates you but doesn't see you as a threat, he'll ignore you"
Ignored was the preferred state with Gregory. "I don't think he will be a problem. Caitlin's been an annoyance to him lately, she's reacting just as badly to Olivia's baby as we thought she would"
Badly was an understatement, after his lab technician had returned the knowledge that Olivia's blood had tested positive for the elevated hormone levels associated with pregnancy, it had taken all his skills as a manipulator to keep Caitlin from rushing home to confront her parents. That storm was best saved for a later date.
So he'd placated her, let her drink herself into a stupor. He had expected more of a fight from Caitlin, especially after the stories she told him of how much she hated her mother drinking. Instead she took to the bottle like a sailor, drowning her emotions in the quiet that only came from the bottom of a bottle. Cole wasn't going to doubt that alcoholism ran in the genes anymore. For now Caitlin slept. She'd be a mess when she woke up, but Cole intended to be gone when that happened.
"Gregory's choosing to support Olivia over Caitlin?" The phone asked him in surprise. "I thought certainly he'd take his daughter's side. She's always been his favorite"
"Well-" Cole thought for a moment. "It hasn't been the case lately. Maybe it's just the pregnancy"
The voice liked that idea better. "It would be like Gregory to protect his spawn"
"What should I do about it?" Cole wondered, curious how this unexpected surprise would change their plans.
"How pregnant is she"
Searching through the mass of papers on his bed, Cole dug up the one on the blood tests. "Somewhere in the third month"
"Three months?" The voice asked in surprise. "Then that explains their sudden reconciliation perfectly. One night of misplaced passions, and she becomes pregnant. Olivia's greatest weakness of character is that she's never been able to keep anything from Gregory. Terrified of what you'll do to the baby when you find out, Gregory keeps it a secret from even his precious Caitlin. Sets up a dummy position for her at his corporation to keep an eye on his child. If we had more time we could simply wait until Gregory had what he wanted from her"
"But, we're not going to wait, are we?" Cole drummed his fingers impatiently on the side of the phone. Six months of hanging around this backward little California town playing house with Caitlin would drive him absolutely insane.
"No, waiting isn't an option at this point. I won't take the chance that Olivia will bond with Gregory over the baby." The voice paused in thought for a moment and Cole started going through the rest of his papers. He had a mountain of information on pregnancy to learn before implementing the next part of the plan.
"Olivia has miscarried before. I couldn't get the details, but Caitlin might be able to get the story out of her father." The voice was pleased with that idea. "See that she does"
"Shouldn't be too hard, Caitlin's only too open to suggestions." Cole wrote it down on the top of his page.
"Remember that no permanent harm can be done to Olivia. I could care less about Gregory, or any of his brats, but I want Olivia"
Cole sighed, it would be easier to get the jewels if he could just kill them both and rob Caitlin blind of her inheritance. "That's going to make it difficult"
"You'll just have to rise to the occasion. I've given you enough financial leeway on the cards I sent you to make you a Deschanel right out of the family legends. You keep sweeping Caitlin off her feet and get into that house all right?"
"All right." Cole agreed. "I'll call you as soon as I know anything more."
The line went dead and Cole headed for the closet to finish changing into his black catsuit. The doorman he had bribed at the Lichfield said Roger and Bette had both left a in a hurry and didn't seem to be intend to return quickly.
It fit with what he had expected. The tasteful little card he had slipped into Gregory's mail must have had the desired effect. Cole hoped Olivia had read it. He could picture her baby blue eyes turning dark in horror, the color draining from her face. Gregory might be more deserving of his brand of terrorism, but Olivia's fear was more gratifying. He wanted to be alone with her again. Like he had been in the bedroom that night when he put his hands on her throat.
Nothing felt as good as that kind of power. Olivia had the kind of vulnerability that attracted him. When she had looked into his eyes, he saw real terror. He was going to see that again.
First he had an apartment to break into. Stealing the jewels out from under the nose of Gregory's best friend would be quite a coup. Cole was looking forward to it.
Bette's paper lost to Roger's scissors and she was the one elected to head upstairs and see if Gregory intended to come down at all. She crossed her fingers that she wasn't going to interrupt anything as she leaned her head close to the door. Walking into some kind of intense conversation about Cole and the kind of horrible things he wanted to do to their baby wasn't something she wanted to be involved in.
There wasn't any yelling from the other side of the door. No crying, no throwing of breakable objects. It was a good sign. She opened the door a crack and then she could hear Gregory talking to himself softly. He wasn't waiting for answers, so she could tell it was a monologue. Knocking softly on the door, she opened it all the way.
Gregory looked up from his letter to Sean, setting the paper down at his side. "What do you need Bette"
"You talk to yourself now?" She teased with a bemused smile. "I thought Livie had a hold on that in this house"
"I'm writing Sean, if you must know." Shifting Olivia slowly off his lap, Gregory started to extract himself from her so he could get up. I was reading when she fell asleep and I thought if I stopped reading-"
"Well that's thoughtful of you." Bette realized in surprise. "Sometimes I think she might be right when she insists there's more to you then your looks"
He raised his eyebrows in response, and answered dryly, "I'm sure Olivia's just exaggerating"
"I would agree." She replied as he slipped away from the bed and out into the hallway with her. "How's she doing"
Gregory's smile masked some of his concern, but Bette caught what he couldn't hide in his eyes. "Long day"
"And she doesn't know the half of it, does she?"
Leading Bette back downstairs away from the bedroom, he nodded grimly. "Of course I couldn't tell her. Can you imagine what that would do to her? Roger's already concerned with her stress level, I'll be dammed before I let that bastard Cole add to it"
Roger got up from the couch when they came down.
"Sleeping." Gregory said in answer to the unasked question. "And I'll make sure she eats when she gets up"
The doctor filled his coffee up as he studied the other man's tired posture. "You're really getting the hang of this aren't you"
Shaking his head in response, Gregory sighed as he sank down into the sofa. "As soon as I do I'm sure her needs will change"
Roger flopped back down next to him, grinning over his cup. "Welcome back to the world of expectant fathers. As soon as you get one problem licked, they find a new one to torture you with"
"Is that coffee?"
Licking his lips in response, Roger tilted his head towards the bar. "Fresh a few minutes ago"
Dragging himself back up, Gregory poured himself a cup. "Where's the good Detective and that son of yours"
"The boy's off to the movies with that paramedic he's become so fond of. Roger shrugged as Bette kissed his cheek. "Got some kind of emergency call and stepped outside to take it. He's got your card for the fingerprint team, and Bette and I got the study cleaned up"
"You are going to have to get a new phone though." Bette piped up as Roger played with her necklace childishly. "We couldn't fix that"
He took a slow sip of coffee before he responded. "That's all right. I'll see that Rose picks up a new one. Thank you"
Ricardo's reappearance stopped their conversation as he drew all of her attention. "That was the station. The Lichfield just reported a break in at your apartment doctor"
Roger shook his head slowly and clucked his tongue in disbelief. "Busy day for Mr. St. John isn't it? All right detective. We'll follow you over and assess the damages." Patting Gregory's shoulder sympathetically, he drained his coffee cup. "Seems like your little trap worked"
"We'll see." Bette warned as she collected her purse. "This devil's been pretty good at not leaving any evidence so far"
Looking incredibly pleased with himself, Roger winked at her. "You didn't see what I did to the inside of the safe. We should be able to catch at least his pretty mug this time"
"I'll let you get to it then detective." Gregory looked back upstairs and then down at his watch. It was only nine. Olivia might still be talked into eating if he got to work on something now. "I'm sorry if any of your things were damaged"
Roger put up his hands nonchalantly. "Can always buy more."
When Bette coughed he corrected himself. "I mean, let Bette shop for me because of her superior taste in all things"
"Oh, you are good aren't you?" She laughed as they headed outside after the detective. "So trainable"
Olivia woke alone in her darkened bedroom. The last thing she remembered was Gregory reading her Sean's letter from England. The letter was folded neatly on the nightstand on Gregory's side of the bed. Rubbing her temples, she sat up slowly. Her head felt nearly normal again and she wasn't sure how long she had slept. It had still been light out when she fell asleep hadn't it? It couldn't be that late if Gregory wasn't here. He never let her sleep in her clothes, even when she tried too.
When she finally remember and looked down at her watch it was a quarter after ten. She'd slept the entire afternoon away, but the quiet way the bedroom didn't spin around her was enough to make the the lost time entirely worthwhile.
Still, she left the bed cautiously, trying her feet for a moment with her hands still firmly on the side of the bed before she put her full weight on them. Olivia was pleased when her legs held her weight without complaint. Belle fell in step behind her as they went downstairs in search of Gregory. He'd left the bedroom door closed, apparently concerned that she sleep as much as possible. He was going to lose points in his reputation if he kept this kind of behavior up.
The living room was quiet and the study door was open and dark. Resting her hand on Belle's head, she was grateful for the presence of the large fluffy animal. Being alone made her anxious with Cole still out there somewhere. "Must be in the kitchen." Gregory certainly wouldn't leave the her alone and that was the last room left. "Don't you think"
Gregory took his attention off of the stack of paperwork in front of him and pulled out the stool next to him at the counter when she came in. "I was wondering if you'd come back to the land of the living at all tonight"
Yawning slightly, Olivia crawled onto the stool next to him. "What are you doing down here"
"Just some accounting." Whatever it was, he tucked it away into his briefcase and shut it "And a little baking"
She broke into a surprised smile. "Baking"
Pointing to the timer over the oven, he rested a hand on her shoulder. "Thought I'd make you something, just in case you were hungry when you got up"
Olivia lowered her head to brush his hand. "You're spoiling me"
"Is it working?"
Teasing her brought a cheer into his eyes that she missed when life was so serious. He could bring so much warmth into her chest when he was happy. "I think so." Olivia lowered her chin to her hand as he got up to shut off his timer. "What did you make for me"
"Something your father used to make." Gregory answered mysteriously. "Something it has taken me years to get right"
Giggling, she looked up at the ceiling as she tried to access her memories. "The only thing I remember my father cooking at the moment is chicken pie with potatoes, and that's far too British for you to make"
"Wrong category entirely too." He pointed out as he retrieved his surprise from the over. "I knew I'd never be able to convince you to eat dinner"
Olivia turned her eyes back to him curiously.
"I made dessert"
She nearly clapped her hands together in delight when she recognized the smell. "Toffee pudding"
"There you go. I knew you'd get it eventually." Gregory set the pan up to cool on the rack while he went to the cupboard for plates. "You stay there. It'll take a few minutes to cool enough to eat anyway"
"You must have been worried about me-" Olivia began, staring guiltily at her hands. "If you resorted to toffee pudding"
"Let's say concerned."' He offered as he opened the silverware drawer. "Concerned makes me sound less over-protective and patronizing"
"Darling, you're not really patronizing." She replied with a sigh as he cut into his pudding. "I was just upset"
Gregory set the plate of steaming toffee pudding in front of her on the counter with a pre-occupied smile. "I was patronizing. You're just too guilty from your little outburst to mention it"
Blowing across the top, she watched steam curl upwards. "I did get a little emotional, didn't I"
Gregory chuckled as he held the first bite in front of her on her fork. "Perfectly acceptable under the circumstances. I just wish"
Licking the sticky sauce from her lips, Olivia took the fork from his hand and started demolishing her pudding. "What? What do you wish"
"I understood it better." He explained, sheepishly running a hand through his hair. "I know you're under a lot of stress. I know your hormones are dancing all over the map- I've even done this before"
"But I'm still as confusing as I was the first time." She giggled, patting his arm sympathetically. "I'm not sure what to tell you darling. I'm afraid I'm as lost as you are"
He scooted his stool closer to her, wrapping an arm around her back and kissing her neck. "At least I'm in good company."